Arms and the Man is one of Shaw's earliest plays. It was first produced in London in 1894. The original staging of the play was so well received that Shaw's reputation as one of the greatest wits in the London drama scene was almost instantly established. During a war in the Balkans, young Raina falls in love with a Swiss mercenary who keeps chocolates in his bandolier instead of bullets. Although the play is now more than a hundred years old, its themes of love and war are possibly more valid than ever before. Its comedy is still fresh and entertaining and its story of love and romance can appeal to us all.

Brian Murray

BRIAN MURRAY began his career in London performing in the West End prior to joining the Royal Shakespeare Company where his roles included Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cassio in Othello, and Edgar in Peter Brook’s King Lear, which would mark his New York debut. His most recent appearance was the hugely successful evening Beckett/Albee with his frequent co-star Marian Seldes. Recently he starred off-Broadway in Scattergood and the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, for which he received a Tony Award and a Drama Desk nomination, and Hobson’s Choice at the Atlantic Theatre Company. Last season, he starred in Edward Albee’s The Play About the Baby, The Butterfly Collection at Playwrights Horizon and Uncle Vanya with Sir Derek Jacobi and Ms. Linney. He starred in the revival of Finian’s Rainbow and played Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Duke in Measure for Measure in repertory at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, directed by Sir Peter Hall. Mr. Murray starred in the new play, Spread Eagle at the WPA Theatre, and for Lincoln Center he appeared as Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night with Helen Hunt and as Ben Hubbard in The Little Foxes opposite Stockard Channing, for which he received a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination. In recent New York theatre seasons, he has played James Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night and the title role in DA, both at the Irish Repertory Theatre; Archie in The Entertainer and Ed in Entertaining Mr. Sloane, both at the Classic Stage Company; John Tarleton in Misalliance and Dr. Rice in Molly Sweeney, both at the Roundabout Theatre; and Reverend Harry Henderson in Lincoln Center Theatre’s Racing Demon. He also starred in the premiere of Mud River Stone at Playwrights Horizon. Before that, he played nine roles in the acclaimed Travels with My Aunt at Minetta Lane (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards). His other Broadway credits include A Small Family Business, Noises Off (Drama Desk Award), Black Comedy, Da, Sleuth, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tony Award nominee and Broadway debut) and All in Good Time. Other off-Broadway credits include Ashes (Obie Award), The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, The Arcata Promise and The Knack. For the New York Shakespeare Festival, he starred as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Claudius in Hamlet, opposite Kevin Kline. Regional credits include The Doctor’s Dilemma, Artichoke, Equus, Terra Nova, The Philanthropist, The Winter’s Tale, The Recruiting Officer, The Purging, Barbarians, and Alfred Uhry’s Egardo Mine at Hartford Stage. On Broadway, he has directed The Circle with Rex Harrison, The Show Off, Blithe Spirit with Richard Chamberlin, Hay Fever with Rosemary Harris, A Place Without Doors, Waltz of the Toreadors and Arsenic and Old Lace with Jean Stapleton, among others, as well as numerous Off-Broadway and regional productions. His films include Bob Roberts and City Hall. Appearances on television include The Investigation, Illusions, the PBS series Liberty, the NYSF production of Hamlet and the Lincoln Center Production of Twelfth Night. For television, he directed The Chinese Prime Minister. He can be heard as Long John Silver in Disney’s animated film, Treasure Planet.

SEVEN CLASSIC PLAYS
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